Myriad Universes: Infinity's Prism

Even compared to the other MYRIAD UNIVERSES book I read so far, this one felt like it was motivated by the same urges as fanfiction, especially "Places of Exile," which essentially forces the Voyager crew to deal with the fact that they are stuck in the Delta quadrant (instead of insisting they will somehow get home). It's a canon-divergent AU smörgåsbord. I suppose it's because of that that I really look forward to reading the other MYRIAD UNIVERSES...

I don't know why, but I'm a sucker for a good alternate universe story. This might stem from my enjoyment of alternate history, with its speculation of what might have happened and what those differences reveal about people. But this isn't limited to fictional speculations about history, as I get no less pleasure from alternate spins on fictional universes such as that of Gene Roddenberry's much-loved creation.

And this book just hit the spot in that respect. The first of what was a three-book series, it offers three novellas that take the Star Trek canon and spin it off in radical directions. The three are:

"A Less Perfect Union" by William Leisner — Premised on a different outcome to the events of the season four Star Trek: Enterprise show more episode "Terra Prime," it has a more isolationist Earth reconsidering its rejection of joining the alliance of interstellar species (known here as the "Coalition"). It features a lot of characters from the very start of the original series, including a xenophobic James T. Kirk. The name-checking was a little exhausting, but never overdone and was part of the enjoyment of the story.

"Places of Exile" by Christopher L. Bennett — This one is most closely tied to its source material. Premised on a slightly different ending to the season three finale "Scorpion, Part I," a slightly more cautious approach to the war between the Borg and Species 8472 soon forces the Voyager crew to adopt a very different mission from the one they had been on since their relocation to the Delta Quadrant. This was the one that, based on the description, I was least looking forward to reading, yet (possibly because of my lower expectations) I enjoyed it the most.

"Seeds of Dissent" by James Swallow — Remember Khan Noonien Singh? Imagine what would have happened had he triumphed on Earth and what would have followed over the course of the following three centuries. In some ways it's the most radical departure of the trio, which made it the most entertaining of the three (albeit with a major caveat).

All three novellas represent radical departures from the events of their source material, which gives their authors latitude to tell very different stories. Yet what makes it work is the authors' verisimilitude to the characters from the original shows. All three authors nail their depiction of characters that have been so well established over the years, sometimes across multiple shows. Combined with the freshness of the plots, the three stories make for a stimulatingly different yet still faithful departure from the canon that fans of the original series can enjoy. show less

This is the first in a series of books chronicling possible alternative Star Trek universes. It contains three short-short novels: A Less Perfect Union by William Leisner, Places of Exile by Christopher L. Bennett, and Seeds of Dissent by James Swallow. Of the three, my favorite was definitely Leisner's, telling the story of an Earth that never joined the United Federation of Planets. Despite depicting an alternate universe, Leisner captures the characters quite well-- they all feel like the people we know and love, but not quite. It's a true Star Trek story, ably demonstrating that we are better together than we are apart in the best tradition of the series, but from a different perspective than we've had before.

James Swallow's story show more was decent-- the idea of a universe with "Khan victorius!" as the back cover shouts at us is a good one, as is the story he concocts in it, a sort of reverse "Space Seed". The best touch was the Khan hologram. I do find it very contrived that any of the characters we know-- especially the human ones-- could even remotely exist in this universe, however.

Christopher L. Bennett's alternative Voyager story, on the other hand, fell pretty flat with me, spending too much of its time telling and not showing characterization, trying to do far too much in its short pagespan, and getting bogged down in some pretty uninteresting stuff with Species 8472.

Overall, the first two Myriad Universes volumes have been an unreserved success, opening up Star Trek in a new way, which is always a good thing. I'd be hard-pressed to pick a favorite between A Less Perfect Union and A Gutted World, but I enjoyed almost all of the stories quite a bit. I look forward to the future planned installments in the series, though I'd like to see those utilize some new formats: full novels, short stories, &c. show less

A Less Perfect Union by William Leisner explores a world where Christopher Pike remains the captain of the Enterprise while James T. Kirk is at his side as First Officer. Where's Spock? Well, Vulcans are not a member of the Federation of Planets...in fact, Earth is at odds with the Vulcans due to an incident many years earlier which devastated San Francisco. Kirk has his own bone to pick with the Vulcan people and it all comes to a head when the Enterprise picks up T'Pol for a diplomatic mission to try to repair relations with their alien neighbors. Stranger still, McCoy has joined the crew and he and Kirk immediately butt heads over what McCoy perceives is Kirk's racist feelings toward the Vulcans. Of course, longtime fans of TOS will show more find this humorously ironic. It's politically and racially charged with tons of action just like all the great Trek episodes. 9/10

Maybe my favorite of the entire lot was Places of Exile by Christopher L. Bennett. I've never seen any episodes of Voyager (I know, I know) so I found this one extremely easy to accept as canon. I guess it might have been harder if you already knew the "real" events of this universe. For those unfamiliar, the crew of Voyager is stranded in the Delta Quadrant and are trying to find their way back to planet Earth while navigating the unknown (and dangerous) stretch of space in-between. In this version, their ship is crippled and they must make an emergency landing on a planet where they are essentially refugees forced to make new lives for themselves. It delves into how each member of the crew reacts to the knowledge that they will most likely never reach their homes in their lifetimes. I love character studies so this one was right up my alley. 10/10

What would happen if Khan had actually succeeded in his quest to rule Earth and create a dominant race of superhumans? Well, Seeds of Dissent by James Swallow has a truly terrifying answer. After Khan's victory, augmented humans become the norm and Khan is viewed as a deity. Princeps Julian Bashir (from Deep Space Nine) is in command of the Defiant and he comes across a most unusual ship named Botany Bay. (If you're a Trekkie, then you most certainly heard ominous music playing just then.) When fictionalized history clashes with the harsh truth of reality the world crafted under Khan's descendants begins to fragment. (This book was the push I needed to continue my Trek tutelage by beginning DS9 by the way.) 9/10 show less

I usually like AU fanfic, so this book was a fun read. I especially liked the third story, using DS9 characters, where Kahn's side had won the Eugenics Wars and the sleepers found on the Botany Bay were from the other side.

Three stories in an alternate timeline.

What if the Vulcans had become our enemies instead of our allies?
What if there were a species stronger than the Borg?
What if Khan had taken over the Earth during the Eugenic Wars?

Each of these questions gave one of the stories in this book a completely different spin on the Star Trek worlds that we have come to know.

What if something, some path in your life had been different, what then?

A three book collection of Star Trek themed stories. These three stories are unrelated to each other except in theme. In that they are alternate paths that might have occurred. Alternate universes, though none are part of the Mirror Universe that had popped up in Star Trek episodes, nor are any of them related to the alternate universe the current movie franchise is following.

The first book in the collection is by William Leisner called "A Less Perfect Union. It's the first 33% of the book. Making this part of the book to be roughly 176 pages in length. I think.

It involves a universe in which the foundation of the Federation collapsed in the formative stages. Due to a terrorist attack, Earth decided to go its own way, though not as show more "evilly" as in the Mirror Universe. Meanwhile, the others who were to be the founders of the Federation went off to form their own union.

The story picks up roughly.... Darn. They said in the book how long had occurred but I did not make note of it at the time. It may be about 50 to 100 years after the Federation was "supposed" to be founded. T'Pol as the last surviving member of the original Enterprise, Captain Pike of the current Enterprise, his first officer Kirk, and two diplomats head out on a mission to petition to join this other Federation which goes by another name that I forget now (hmms, it's actually up on Wikipedia, Coalition of Planets). A rather good story that I ended up rating 4.75 stars.

The second book is by Christopher L. Bennet and called Places of Exile. Roughly 192 pages in length. This one is a story involving the crew of Voyager. The story moves away from what occurred on the show at roughly the point Voyager meets the Borg in the Delta Quadrant (there is an internal note that the story takes place “during the latter half of the Voyager episode “Scorpion, Part 1” and concludes some two years later”; the two part Scorpion occurred at the end of season 3, and beginning of season 4.) A different choice is made when dealing with the Borg and Species [insert long number here; a Star Trek website says that it is Species 8472]. Species Numbers is from another universe and is retaliating on a Borg incursion.

Voyager had found itself in the middle in this fight. In the show Voyager gets past it by helping the Borg take on these others in return to safe passage through Borg space. In the "Places of Exile" book, Chakotay talks Janeway into rethinking her plan. Voyager is beaten up and is no longer warp-capable. And the crew, those still alive, must find some means of eeking out an existence in the Delta Quadrant.

Another interesting look into an alternate path, an alternate universe. The rating somewhat bumped up due to the action towards the end of the story. Bumped up to 4.50. show less